The present invention relates to coin validation devices, more commonly known as coin acceptors, wherein the term xe2x80x9ccoinxe2x80x9d is intended to mean metal currency, tokens, counterfeit coins or slugs of all kinds, and wherein a coin validation device (coin acceptor) is an electromechanical device used within a coin operated device (casino slot machine) to validate coins deposited by its patrons/users.
Coin acceptors are used in gaming establishments with coin operated gaming devices, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and other similar devices. As many as three thousand (3,000) of such devices may exist in a single gaming establishment. The combination of a tremendous amount of money in the machines and relatively large gaming establishments with many, many people milling about has long been an attraction to persons desiring to xe2x80x9ccheat the systemxe2x80x9d with any number of creative schemes. The response of manufacturers has been the continuous evolution of coin acceptor designs, including validation systems thereof, which started as a simple entry slot with a xe2x80x9cwire coin switch,xe2x80x9d then evolved through stages which include mechanical sizers, magnetic rejectors, inductive metal evaluation sensors, coin string cutters, optical diameter measurement sensors, optical coin direction sensors and others.
Originally, a coin acceptor handled a single kind of coin and had no extra set-up procedure required for proper operation. With the advent of simple single coin electronic coin acceptors, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,469,213 and 4,437,558 both issued to Nicholson and now commonplace, set-up required a sample coin to act as a reference comparison coin which is located in the acceptor between two sensing coils. More recently, coin acceptors have been designed to accept multiple types of coins, thus making the reference coin scheme impractical and thereby requiring a more complex procedure wherein the coin acceptor is xe2x80x9ctrainedxe2x80x9d on each of the coin types it is to accept, and the resultant numerical training data is stored in the memory of the coin acceptor circuit and is later used to judge the coins presented for validation.
Since originally only one coin could be accepted by a coin acceptor, there was no question as to which coin was to be accepted in the machine. With the advent of simple single coin electronic coin acceptors, it became possible for cheaters to find ways to alter the coin acceptance of a machine by altering the reference coin. In some instances, an inside employee has been known to open the machine and change the reference coin in a slot machine to one of a lower denomination for an outside friend while playing at the machine, then change the machine back to the higher valued reference coin. In other instances, the reference coin has been strategically dislodged by fishing or snaking a stiff wire down the coin slot to the reference coin, manipulating the wire and dislodging the coin sufficiently to allow lower denomination coins to be accepted. The first scheme is primarily averted by careful security procedures, including signing a register in the machine every time the machine is opened, and through wide use of security cameras. The second scheme is usually not detected until the pay-out hopper of a particular machine is emptied of the higher denomination coins, the less than honest player leaves and an honest player reports having been paid out in lower denomination coins. Either of these problems can go on for a considerable length of time absent notice because the reference coin is not visible (except when the machine is opened).
More recently, coin acceptors designed to accept multiple types of coins have presented an even more masked threat to the security problem. It is possible for an unscrupulous employee, such as a slot machine technician of either the gaming establishment or the equipment supplier, to train the coin acceptor to accept an extra coin type of his choice, and then communicate the location of this xe2x80x9calteredxe2x80x9d machine to an outside partner. In this case, there is no sample reference coin that is visible when the machine is opened to verify that nothing has changed. Furthermore, the perpetrator could wait many months before making use of the machine that he has set to accept the special coin, thus making it hard to identify the perpetrator.
Although much attention has been paid to providing secure means for (a) accessing coin hoppers and coin vaults in gaming machines through locks and signature logs, (b) changing the programming or hardware of the gaming machines via oversight of gaming inspectors, and (c) tracking the coin-in and coin-out counts, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,321,242 and 5,477,952, there has been little attention paid to providing means for preventing the unscrupulous from configuring the modern electronic memory based coin validation device to accept lower denomination coins or slugs in addition to those desired by the gaming establishment. This security deficit is a non-trivial financial vulnerability to the gaming establishment.
Further to the issue of security associated with coin operated gaming devices is the possibility of attack through the use of slugs manufactured to imitate the desired coin for acceptance, or the possible use of coins or tokens from other gaming establishments which have similar characteristics to the desired coin. While there are some cases where the imitation is so close to the desired coin that it cannot be distinguished, in many cases the imitation is not such a perfect match and results in relatively low acceptance rates. While all coin acceptors are designed to maximize invalidating or rejecting any coins not sufficiently close to the valid acceptable coin, little else has been done to reduce the financial vulnerability of the gaming establishment to these kinds of attacks, except for tightening the acceptance parameter windows of coin acceptor validation circuitry when there is cause to believe that recent poor acceptance rates are related to attempts to pass invalid coins through the systems, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,330,041 and 5,443,144, each in the name of Dobbins et al.
Today""s financial vulnerability of gaming establishments creates a need for improved security.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide solutions to obviate the security problems just described through security programming means for memory based coin acceptors including password generation, password authentication of the operator, authentication of an electronic security key; time, date and identification (ID) information logging into programmed coin acceptors, and logging coin acceptor serial numbers programmed by an operator to a secured computer data base.
Another object of the invention is to provide means for identifying and signalling the likely activity of a cheat trying to pass slugs through a coin acceptor, including visually indicating the detected activity within the gaming establishment to attract the attention of security guards, and to provide signals to which an automated security camera system may respond by aiming strategic cameras to record the possible fraudulent activity.
The invention preferably includes an electronic security key which is connected to a coin acceptor and enables the coin acceptor before the coin acceptor can be xe2x80x9ctrainedxe2x80x9d (programmed or reprogrammed) with respect to a new coin (or a set of coins). The electronic security key also functions as the medium by which operator identification (ID) data, time data and date data are conveyed to and stored in a memory of the coin acceptor and through which the coin acceptor identification (ID) data are conveyed back to and are stored in a memory of a computer data file. Such interaction between the electronic security key, the coin acceptor and the computer provides for full and redundant tracking of individuals who made changes (program) coin acceptors and which coin acceptors were changed, thus providing a means to both discourage fraudulent activity and to identify individuals who are responsible for current coin acceptor programs/configurations.
The current invention also includes a xe2x80x9ctiltxe2x80x9d illuminator for use in the conventional candle annunciator assembly on top of a slot machine. The xe2x80x9ctiltxe2x80x9d illuminator is driven by an electrical output from a coin acceptor to indicate to security personnel that it is likely experiencing fraudulent activity. The coin acceptor will at the same time self-inhibit for a preset period of time as a means of discouraging the majority of such fraudulent activity, including coin stringing and the use of slugs. Furthermore, electrical signals indicative of fraudulent activity are provided for the purpose of communicating with an automated security camera system in order to call attention of the activity to remote security personnel, as well as to capture the possible fraudulent activity on tape for later use by security and law enforcement personnel.
With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.